Personal finance experts reveal their favorite money apps

Apps can help you know how much you're saving or spending from month to month.

Apps can help you know how much you're saving or spending from month to month. (Getty Images)

Debbie CarlsonChicago Tribune

Want to be a better money consumer? Planning for a big purchase like a vacation or home improvement, or just want to improve your lifestyle?

Personal finance apps take the guesswork out of saving and spending, but some people fear using them, given security breaches, such as the Equifax breach, since users need to enter financial information.

Before downloading any app, read the firm’s security policies, and know what it does with the data it receives, said Shane Caniglia, president of The Rich Dad Co., an education company founded by personal-finance expert and “Rich Dad Poor Dad” author Robert Kiyosaki.

With that in mind, several top personal finance experts revealed their favorite apps — many they use themselves. The makers of these apps say they use bank-level security to protect consumers.

Acorns. This micro-saving and investing app uses spending habits to kick-start savings. Every time the user makes a transaction, Acorns rounds up the amount spent to the nearest dollar and puts the extra change into a previously determined portfolio of low-cost investment funds. Both David Bach, nine-time New York Times best-selling author of books such as Smart Couples Finish Rich, and J Money a personal-finance blogger at Budgets Are Sexy, are fans of this app. “You won't get rich off of this, but it's a great way to dip your toes into investing without even noticing it,” J Money said. Bach added that the app re-balances the portfolio and can be used for bigger investments. Starts at $1 a month. www.acorns.com

Betterment. This app makes it easy for people new to investing to learn more, said Bola Onada Sokunbi, a certified financial educator and money expert who blogs at Clever Girl Finance. It’s a “robo-advisor,” picking investments based on the user’s risk tolerance questionnaire. The app has a good resource center and very basic educational information. Sokunbi says Betterment doesn’t overwhelm users with different services or market news. “When you’re first starting with investing, all of that can overwhelm you,” she said. Starting at 0.25 percent of account balance annually. www.betterment.com

Clarity Money. Unused monthly services suck out cash and can be hard for people to quit. That’s one of the best tools of this newer budgeting app, said Bach, who coined the term “the latte factor” about small ways people can cut back spending and save money. Clarity Money looks at the user’s monthly paid services and asks if the user wants the program to discontinue the service or renegotiate for a better rate. “Nothing helps reduce spending faster than to go through expenses, look at what you’re paying for monthly, what you can cut down or renegotiate,” he said. Current just for Apple, Android version coming soon. Free. www.claritymoney.com

Digit. Want to save money, whether it’s for a product or a rainy-day fund, but can’t seem to find the time or cash? J Money said Digit analyzes a user’s income and expenses and automatically moves over money it knows the user won't miss into a separate savings account. The site has a no-overdraft guarantee, so users don’t have to worry about bounced payments. Free. www.digit.co

Good Budget. The “envelope system” in which people earmark funds by putting money in various envelopes is the concept behind this app. Users can sync and share household budgets too. Caniglia said he likes that the app doesn’t sell any of the user’s data, which is different from many of the other free personal finance sites. He says the app has an intuitive layout and user interface and good technical support infrastructure. Free or $6 a month. www.goodbudget.com

Penny. Penny is like having a money coach in your pocket, Sokunbi said. Penny is a tracking and engagement app, alerting users to their spending through the day. As it learns habits, Penny asks users if they’d like to set goals to curb spending. “She also gives tips on how much you’re saving or spending from this month to last month. It’s not an in-depth planning app, it’s more like an accountability partner,” she said. Free. www.pennyapp.io

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